Relationships | Page 1 | *~Christians on a Mission~* | Guild Forums

Gaia Guilds

~Christians on a Mission~

Back to Guilds

A Christian guild focused on God.

Tags: Christian, Bible, Angel, Heaven, Jesus

*~Christians on a Mission~*

Relationships

Madame Blackwood

Aged Gaian

6,650 Points

Offline

Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2021 12:18 pm

Hi, I wasn't really sure where else I could post this thread. There is something I've been struggling with basically since I was baptized in 2018, and that is the issue of having / maintaining relationships with friends who aren't Christians, or are very opposed to Christianity.
To be more specific, through my fiance, I met and became friends with some people that he knew from high school. One of these people is a young woman who has experienced a lot of abuse her whole life, mostly from her family and from her friends too. For the sake of this conversation, I'll call her Kathie. Because of this, she has had a lot of trouble with depression, self esteem, and suicidal thoughts. And what makes this even more sad is the fact that her family, specifically her step mother and biological father, are professing Christians who go to church regularly. Despite this, she has told me how her step mother had extreme anger issues and would constantly scream at her and her sister. This, and several other reasons is why she moved out and took her sister with her a few years ago.
She knows that I am a Christian and became one fairly recently, and I've asked her to pray with me and read the Bible with me a few times, and she told me that she hates Christianity mainly because of how her family acts.

Kathie and her boyfriend threw a birthday party for me I think last year. The party was nice, but then, she made an announcement and told us that she was now a practicing Wiccan. If you don't know what Wicca is, it's basically witchcraft.
I actually had some experience with Wicca when I was a kid long before I discovered Jesus and was baptized. When she made that announcement, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, because I know the dark road that she's headed down, but I don't really know what I could do to help her. She's also very into Tarrot, crystals, and a lot of other New Age stuff. Because of all of this, I've been extremely hesitant to spend time with her, because she has a lot of occultic stuff around her house. I don't want to cut her off as a friend, and I know that that is not what Christ modeled for us, but I don't really know what to do.

Has anyone here experienced anything like this? If you have, what did you do?

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 12:33 am

Feline Bandit

Personally, I haven't dealt with a lot of people into Wiccanism, but I know those who have. It's possible that I've run into Wiccans...Wicaans (sp?), not knowing that's what they practiced.

Well, actually...now that I think about it. I remember my best friend met this girl in middle school - I was introduced to her, we will call my friend's friend, Darrin. Well, Darrin was so much into witchcraft. I'm not sure if she considered herself Wiccan or what, but my friend told me that she was worried for Darrin's salvation. She told me one day, "The Bible warns heavily about things like witchcraft. I don't want my friend in hell. She's so nice to me and sweet to others. I hate for that to happen...I need to find a way to warn her." We were just kids, too. It was a tricky situation.

I understand if you don't want to be around your friend. To be around someone practicing such dangerous things can be risky. As Christians, we don't delight in that darkness. "What business does the light have to do with the darkness?" I mean, we're in this world, we will have to deal with it - but it doesn't mean we should lavish in it or follow a relationship with that darkness that would be uncomfortable or crossing lines for us. I'm not comfortable with the occult, either. I know it exists and is very real, and I don't like to be around it if at all possible. I also do know that God protects us from that evil to an extent - as Christians, being in the Lord, we already have a light about us and evil generally doesn't appreciate that.

Further along, I met my husband, who also had parents that were Christians (they were missionaries so if there were churches that didn't like them/wouldn't fund them, they'd just move and perhaps that's how they avoided being accused of abuse and neglect). His parents were abusive and he would run away at times for days and they would never be wondering where he was. They didn't try to find him or anything, but he'd go to this lady's house - she was a Wiccan. That woman's children were his friends. She would offer a place to stay for him. There were times he was ill and needed a place to rest and sometimes to just escape the abuse he'd go over there. He said he never agreed with her Wiccanism, but very much respected that she was nicer than his "Christian" abusive parents.

The thing is, this destroys the idea of beleiving in God for a lot of people out there. A lot of abusers have found that hiding within the confines of a church and "pretending" to be holy and right with the Lord that people don't know any better but to believe them and eventually they won't even believe the abuse victim.

There was a church that me and this girl made friends. Her parents seem all around good natured, humorous, etc. but when we got to our adult years - she started having panic attacks. My husband had worked in behavioral health so he had talked to her and stuff. A lot of the Christian community and that one in particular seemed to be against seeking therapy. She felt that her parents and siblings would just corner her and manipulate her and blame her for everything. It was so sad to hear because hanging around them, they never even seem that way...but narcissists can work that way. My husband helped her outside of that church seek help that would be as private as possible so she got an online webcam type therapy session so she could go outside of her home wherever to do that. Thankfully, it has been helping her out.

My husbad is still a Christian, but said he took some dark non-Christian paths in life and struggled immensely with anxiety and depression.

I have had my moments in life, too, where I felt like I was fighting to hang on to my belief in God.

What I think your friend hates is her parents, not God necessarily. She hates the fact that the church couldn't see through them for that they were - a lot of abusers are narcissists and play that game well.

Your friend is hurt, traumatized, and has experienced spiritual abuse.

Have you ever thought about the Living Waters way of witnessing with apologetics? I'll post a video below and you can see how they do this. They walk the person through the 10 commandments so instead of focusing on a particular sin (homosexuality, witchcraft, etc.) they pinpoint the most common sins that most of us do (lying, looking at someone with lust, hating someone in our heart, taking God's name in vain, etc.) and use that to show someone that they need a Savior.

I was never taught to outreach growing up. The church I went to was pretty closed, didn't seem super friendly to new people. Everyone was practically related (not even a joke). So I've had to learn outreach through my husband and also through research on my own. Apologetics is key. Knowing how to avoid questions meant to lead you astray is also key. Some people when you're witnessing will try to distract you with something like, "Well, what do you think of taking the jab?" or, "How do you feel about our public school system?" or something that isn't on topic. Always stay on topic and don't jump through their doors.

Sometimes asking people to have a study with you and pray with you just doesn't work because their heart is hardened and they aren't even opened to it. They don't see why they need a Savior and are at that point blind to it, but when they see the why - sometimes it's a realization that people make suddenly or they think about that encounter later and decide to trust in Jesus.

Evangelism encounter I said I would post below (there's TONS more on YouTube where he reaches out to Wiccans and Satanists):

If at any time, you feel that this friendship is downright toxic or that she's pressing you to practice the occult with her or things of this nature, it would probably be best to keep the distance.